Guizhou county holds lectures to explain new policies

Bijie in Southwest China’s Guizhou province has set up the New Era Workshops to help people understand government policies on poverty alleviation and rural development.

As part of the initiative, a lecture on “adjustment of agricultural structure” was organized by the city’s Nayong county in its Qiangganyan village on Feb 10. More than 30 locals attended it.

“After removing the costs for seed, fertilizer and labor, corn farmers actually don’t make money,” Xie Lijie, an official in charge of poverty alleviation in Qiangganyan, said at the lecture as the main speaker.

“If we transfer the land to a cooperative for planting fruit trees, we will receive dividends and also have the time for other jobs. This way we can earn more money than from planting corn.”

Xiong Yihong, whose husband passed away in 2016, is raising three children alone. But she is unable to afford her children’s education by growing corn alone.

The workshops give her hope, she says.

“I have decided to transfer my land to the village’s cooperative to grow fruits.”

Xie says officials in the village started to give lectures at least twice a month since July. At the beginning, they had to go door to door to invite villagers, but now people attend them voluntarily.